In my old nabe in Cleveland I went to these “Crimewatch” meetings. The primary problem was drug dealing. Most of the customers were compariatively rich white guys driving in from the suburbs to buy. (I used to harrass these cats, but that’s another story.) When the dealers — pushers really, all black, many users — would get picked up there wasn’t also enough evidence to prove they were trying to make a deal. So these would get nailed on possession.

Ergo, my point: the pushers were pushing because they were poor, unskilled and needed a job. They were poor because they were from fatherless households, most lived in the horrible projects. The white addicts didn’t need to push and expose themselves that way, hence less arrests. Liberal Cleveland politics ironically kept the cops from getting aggressive enough on the white guys (undercover ops, etc.). Else they could have dried up that pocket.